1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile power wash system that uses reclaimed, filtered and recycled sprayed water for cleaning flat surfaces such as concrete, asphalt, and other various hard surfaces, and more particularly, to a power wash system having an apparatus to remove hydrocarbons, especially oil and fuel, from the recycled water. The power wash system with these new and improved features provides more effective and convenient cleaning of flat surfaces.
2. Discussion of Background and Prior Art
Apparatus and methods for selectively cleaning flat surfaces using a mobile cyclonic power wash system have been well known in the art. The mobile cyclonic power wash system generally sprays water at high rotating speeds to clean the surfaces. A typical mobile cyclonic power wash system includes a water storage means for holding the water to be used for cleaning, a water pumping system used for pumping and pressurizing the water from the storage means, and a water cyclone sprayer for spraying the water onto the surfaces. This power wash system can further include a water heating system for heating the water so that high temperature as well as high pressure water is provided for cleaning surfaces.
Halls et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,589 ("Halls") and Sundheim U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,590 ("Sundheim") each disclosed a power wash system that uses a vacuum system, and these systems were designed to be used for cleaning carpets and hard surfaces such as streets and floors. Goerss U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,784 ("Goerss") disclosed a high pressure water system that is designed to be used for cleaning floor surfaces and floor gratings.
One of the problems with the prior art power wash systems is that none of them provided any means for recovering, filtering, and recycling the water sprayed by the power wash system. The prior art systems were not designed to be independent, self-contained systems in which the water is continuously reclaimed, filtered, and recycled for further use by the power wash system. Therefore, the operation of the prior art systems is limited by the amount of water that can be stored or transported by the system (i.e. by the capacity of the water storage means), and the operator of the system was inconvenienced in having to replenish additional water from an outside source when the stored water was depleted. In effect, these prior art systems required the use of large amounts of water, and these systems wasted the stored water since they did not have the capability of reclaiming and re-using it. Moreover, environmental objections are increasingly being raised to harmful wastes being dumped into local drainage systems. Thus, there is a need to reclaim the sprayed water used in outdoor cleaning systems.
Applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 08/118,139 filed Sep. 8, 1993, discloses and claims an improved power wash system which uses high pressure and high temperature water to selectively clean large flat surfaces of the type referred to above, including large parking lots and garages, airport aprons and runways and the like. That system features a water reclamation, filtering and recycling system that dramatically cleans the recycled water and results in substantially improved and efficient surface cleaning. The entire disclosure of that application is hereby incorporated by reference.
Applicant has found that its system described in its co-pending application is very effective in lifting out of the surfaces to be cleaned large amounts of hydrocarbons, such as, oil and fuel which accumulates from the tires and drippings of the vehicles which use the surfaces, especially, for example, the skid marks of tires in the landing zone of runways, oil leaks from parked cars and the like. These hydrocarbons become suspended in the recycled water and also float on the surface of the water being recycled for reuse by applicant's system. If not removed from the system, these hydrocarbons may be reapplied elsewhere on the surface being cleaned. Thus, there is a need and it is an object of the present invention to eliminate suspended and floating hydrocarbon substances in or on the recycled water so that the power wash system is able to run continuously and reapply a clear water wash to the surface being cleaned.
An additional problem faced by applicant were the environmental regulations that impose costly safeguards upon those who generate and transport hazardous materials. Reclaimed oil, fuel and other hydrocarbon substances may fall into this category. Thus, there is a need for and it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method of segregating, collecting and storing the reclaimed hydrocarbons such that it could be quickly removed from the system and given back to the owner of the cleaned surface for disposition without the system operator being labelled a hazardous substance generator, storer, or transporter.